1. Field of the Invention
The present inventions generally relate to self-cooling compositions, systems and methods such as self-cooling containers for rapidly chilling a substance contained therein.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is increasing demand in both the consumer market and the medical arena for a convenient and effective container which may be used by individuals to cool either consumable products, such as coffee, tea, milk, soup, and many other types of beverage or food products, at any time and any location, or to cool testing assays, such as drug identification tests, viruses and many other similar applications without having access to any conventional cooling means, such as a refrigerator, a freezer or ice. The self-cooling technology is generally based on endothermic reactions between different reagents. Under such self-cooling technology, two or more reagents are initially separated by a breakable partition, and when there is a need for cooling to occur, the partition is broken to allow the mixing of the reagents, thereby creating an endothermic reaction for heat absorption to occur. Typically, the reagents employed for cooling include at least a solid material, such as ammonium nitrate, and a liquid material, such as water.
The currently available self-cooling systems, however, have several shortcomings. First, the rate of heat absorption is often inadequate to cool the desired amount of beverage in a short period of time. Second, the amount of solid chemicals required to produce an adequate amount of heat absorption may be too large to be incorporated into a conveniently sized container for either consumers or for fieldwork. Third, an adequate amount of cooling may not be produced for a sufficient length of time to allow heat to be continuously drawn from the substance and to keep the substance at the desired temperature for a selected time period.